Wolf's Sociology Resources: Social Class Archives

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Social Class

Utah Mine Disaster Was Preventable, Report Says. Ian Urbina. NY Times. 5/09/2008. Reports: Complaint (31pgs); Referral to Committee (4pgs); Final Report (164pgs)

The Great Shopping Spree, R.I.P.. Robert J. Samuelson. Newsweek. 4/28/2008.

Bangladesh children toil to survive. Al Jazeera. 4/14/2008.

Despite Tough Times, Ultrarich Keep Spending. Christine Haughney & Eric Konigsberg. NY Times. 4/13/2008.

A faltering economy hasn't slowed American CEOs' pursuit of wealth. David Walsh. World Socialist Web Site. 4/16/2008.

Wall Street Winners Get Billion-Dollar Paydays. Jenny Anderson. NY Times. 4/16/2008.

As income gap widens, recession fears grow. Tami Luhby. CNN. 4/09/2008

For Many, a Boom That Wasn't. David Leonhardt. NY Times. 4/09/2008.

Foreclosure Machine Thrives on Woes. Gretchen Morgenson & Jonathan Glater. NY Times. 3/30/2008.

As Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise, Food Stamp Use Nears Record. Erik Eckholm. NY Times. 3/31/2008,

Jobs down 3rd straight month; recession looms Kevin Hall. McClatchy. 4/04/2008.

Executive Pay: The Bottom Line for Those at the Top. 4/06/2008. NY Times. Interactive display.

Blue Collar, Bare Cupboards. Sasha Abramsky. In These Times. 3/28/2008.

Rich clients' assets to hit $75 trillion by 2012: study. Reuters. 3/27/2008.

Women Behind Bars Project. Women in the criminal justice system.

Seattle Battles the Homeless. Silja Talvi. In These Times. 3/27/2008.

Tension About Religion and Class in Turkey. Sabrina Tavernise. NY Times. 2/19/2008.

Diversity TV. Online video programming on diversity issues.

What Created This Monster?. Nelson Schwartz & Julie Creswell. NT Times. 3/23/08. The role of deregulation of the financial industry and the use of derivatives to "spread risk."

Americas Slave Labor. Christopher Moraff. In These Times. 1/17/2008.

Up to 70% interest - credit card aimed at the poor. Patrick Collinson. Guardian UK. 2/12/2008.

Endowments and the creation of a two-tier higher education system in America . Charles Bogle. World Socialist Web Site. 2/11/2008.

Best U.S. factory jobs in rising jeopardy. Mark Trumbull. Christian Science Monitor. 2/15/2008.

Poverty Is Poison. Paul Krugman. NY Times. 2/18/2008.

Low unemployment rate hides rise in long-term jobless. Kevin G. Hall. McClatchy. 2/18/2008.

The Incredible Shrinking Paycheck. Nancy Cleeland. The Nation. 2/20/2008.

Poverty Facts and Stats.

Sub-prime CEOs defend high wages. BBC. 3/07/2008.

3 CEOs made $460 million - House panel - Sub-prime mortgages. Ben Rooney. CNN. 3/06/2008.

America's 'Near Poor' Are Increasingly at Economic Risk, Experts Say. 5/08/06 Erik Eckholm, NY Times.

State of the Dream: Foreclosed. United for a Fair Economy. 1/16/2008. Charts: Racial cost of predatory lending; more charts

Ending Homelessness. Lori Aratani. Washington Post. 1/16/2008.

Report Says US Lenders Prey on Minorities. Abid Aslam. International Press Service. 1/16/2008.

New inflation data explain middle-class squeeze. Kevin G. Hall. McClatchy. 1/16/2008.

Economic Mobility of Black and White Families

DC’s Two Economies: Many Residents Are Falling Behind. DC Fiscal Policy Institute October 2007. Poverty Rate Grows Amid an Economic Boom.

Life at America's bottom wage. Mark Trumbull. Christian Science Monitor. 1/09/07.

Hard Times For U.S. Workers. Oxford Analytica. 7/27/07.

The New Suburban Poverty. 4/05/07 Press, The Nation.

Poverty gap in US has widened under Bush. Andrew Gumbel. Independent. 2/27/07.

Pay To Be Saved: The Future of Disaster Response. Naomi Klein, CommonDreams, 8/28/06

Top 100 Executives by Total Compensation 2006

Top 100 Executives by Salary 2006

Economic Inequality and Health By Peter Montague
The following article describes two important studies (from Harvard and Berkeley) that impressively link income inequality to many various social problems, like higher mortality rates, crime, welfare, substance abuse and educational problems. It explains why the growing inequality of the Reagan Years, described in detail on this web site, played such a critical role in worsening our nation's social problems. An extremely important read!

Table 9. Private industry, by full-time and part-time status

Part-time Workers' Earnings

Fewer hours, fewer benefits, MLR: The Editor's Desk

Surveys of Minority-Owned and Women-Owned Business Enterprises

National Compensation Survey

National Low Income Housing Coalition

The American Community Survey and Intercensal Population Estimates

Shifting Fortunes Report

Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics

The US National Income Statistics

The Effect of Race and Sex on Welfare Benefits

Social Class Home Page

Allyn & Bacon's Sociology Links: Social Class and Poverty

Poverty guidelines and poverty thresholds: What they are, and how they are used

Poverty, Family Structure, and Child Well-Being: Indicators From the SIPP

Institute for Research on Poverty

Statistical Update Child Poverty

Welfare Reform and the General Welfare

Freedom to Be More Equal than Others: Graduates Versus Oligarchs 2/27/06 Paul Krugman, NYT

Top 100 Executives by Total CompensationWashington Post, 7/10/06

Top 100 Executives by Salary Washington Post, 7/10/06

May 2005 Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates Bureau of Labor Statistics

Social Class

3 CEOs made $460 million - House panel - Sub-prime mortgages. Ben Rooney. CNN. 3/06/2008.

A faltering economy hasn't slowed American CEOs' pursuit of wealth. David Walsh. World Socialist Web Site. 4/16/2008.

Allyn & Bacon's Sociology Links: Social Class and Poverty

America's 'Near Poor' Are Increasingly at Economic Risk, Experts Say. 5/08/06 Erik Eckholm, NY Times.

Americas Slave Labor. Christopher Moraff. In These Times. 1/17/2008.

As Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise, Food Stamp Use Nears Record. Erik Eckholm. NY Times. 3/31/2008,

As income gap widens, recession fears grow. Tami Luhby. CNN. 4/09/2008

Bangladesh children toil to survive. Al Jazeera. 4/14/2008.

Best U.S. factory jobs in rising jeopardy. Mark Trumbull. Christian Science Monitor. 2/15/2008.

Blue Collar, Bare Cupboards. Sasha Abramsky. In These Times. 3/28/2008.

DC’s Two Economies: Many Residents Are Falling Behind. DC Fiscal Policy Institute October 2007. Poverty Rate Grows Amid an Economic Boom.

Despite Tough Times, Ultrarich Keep Spending. Christine Haughney & Eric Konigsberg. NY Times. 4/13/2008.

Diversity TV. Online video programming on diversity issues.

ESBR: Income

Economic Mobility of Black and White Families

Ending Homelessness. Lori Aratani. Washington Post. 1/16/2008.

Endowments and the creation of a two-tier higher education system in America . Charles Bogle. World Socialist Web Site. 2/11/2008.

Executive Pay: The Bottom Line for Those at the Top. 4/06/2008. NY Times. Interactive display.

Family Statistics

Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics

Fewer hours, fewer benefits, MLR: The Editor's Desk

For Many, a Boom That Wasn't. David Leonhardt. NY Times. 4/09/2008.

Foreclosure Machine Thrives on Woes. Gretchen Morgenson & Jonathan Glater. NY Times. 3/30/2008.

Freedom to Be More Equal than Others: Graduates Versus Oligarchs 2/27/06 Paul Krugman, NYT

Hard Times For U.S. Workers. Oxford Analytica. 7/27/07.

Institute for Research on Poverty

Jobs down 3rd straight month; recession looms Kevin Hall. McClatchy. 4/04/2008.

Life at America's bottom wage. Mark Trumbull. Christian Science Monitor. 1/09/07.

Low unemployment rate hides rise in long-term jobless. Kevin G. Hall. McClatchy. 2/18/2008.

May 2005 Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates Bureau of Labor Statistics

National Compensation Survey

National Low Income Housing Coalition

New inflation data explain middle-class squeeze. Kevin G. Hall. McClatchy. 1/16/2008.

Part-time Workers' Earnings

Pay To Be Saved: The Future of Disaster Response. Naomi Klein, CommonDreams, 8/28/06

Poverty Facts and Stats.

Poverty Is Poison. Paul Krugman. NY Times. 2/18/2008.

Poverty gap in US has widened under Bush. Andrew Gumbel. Independent. 2/27/07.

Expand |

The number of Americans living in severe poverty has expanded dramatically under the Bush administration, with nearly 16 million people now living on an individual income of less than $5,000 (£2,500) a year or a family income of less than $10,000, according to an analysis of 2005 official census data.

The analysis, by the McClatchy group of newspapers, showed that the number of people living in extreme poverty had grown by 26 per cent since 2000. Poverty as a whole has worsened, too, but the number of severe poor is growing 56 per cent faster than the overall segment of the population characterised as poor - about 37 million people in all according to the census data. That represents more than 10 per cent of the US population, which recently surpassed the 300 million mark.

The widening of the income gap between haves and have-nots is nothing new in America - it has been going on steadily since the late 1970s. What is new, though, is the rapid increase in numbers at the bottom of the socio-economic pile. The numbers of severely poor have increased faster than any other segment of the population.

"That was the exact opposite of what we anticipated when we began," one of the McClatchy study's co-authors, Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, said. "We're not seeing as much moderate poverty as a proportion of the population. What we're seeing is a dramatic growth of severe poverty."

The causes of the problem are no mystery to sociologists and political scientists. The share of national income going to corporate profits has far outstripped the share going to wages and salaries. Manufacturing jobs with benefits and union protection have vanished and been supplanted by low-wage, low-security service-sector work. The richest fifth of US households enjoys more than 50 per cent of the national income, while the poorest fifth gets by on an estimated 3.5 per cent.

The average after-tax income of the top 1 per cent is 63 times larger than the average for the bottom 20 per cent - both because the rich have grown richer and also because the poor have grown poorer; about 19 per cent poorer since the late 1970s. The middle class, too, has been squeezed ever tighter. Every income group except for the top 20 per cent has lost ground in the past 30 years, regardless of whether the economy has boomed or tanked.

These figures are rarely discussed in political forums in America in part because the economy has, in large part, ceased to be regarded as a political issue - John Edwards' "two Americas" theme in his presidential campaign being a rare exception - and because the right-wing think-tanks that have sprouted and thrived since the Reagan administration have done a good job of minimising the importance of the trends.

They have argued, in fact, that the poverty statistics are misleading because of the mobility of US society. A small number of left-wing think-tanks, such as the Economic Policy Institute, meanwhile, argue that the census figures are almost certainly lower than the real picture because many people living in extreme poverty do not answer census questionnaires.

United States poverty league: States with the most people in severe poverty

California 1.9m

Texas 1.6m

New York 1.2m

Florida 943,670

Illinois 681,786

Ohio 657,415

Pennsylvania 618,229

Michigan 576,428

Georgia 562,014

North Carolina 523,511

Source: US Census Bureau

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Poverty guidelines and poverty thresholds: What they are, and how they are used

Poverty, Family Structure, and Child Well-Being: Indicators From the SIPP

Table 9. Private industry, by full-time and part-time status

Report Says US Lenders Prey on Minorities. Abid Aslam. International Press Service. 1/16/2008.

Rich clients' assets to hit $75 trillion by 2012: study. Reuters. 3/27/2008.

Robber Barons

Seattle Battles the Homeless. Silja Talvi. In These Times. 3/27/2008.

Shifting Fortunes Report

Social Class Home Page

State of the Dream: Foreclosed. United for a Fair Economy. 1/16/2008. Charts: Racial cost of predatory lending; more charts

Statistical Update Child Poverty

Sub-prime CEOs defend high wages. BBC. 3/07/2008.

Surveys of Minority-Owned and Women-Owned Business Enterprises

Tension About Religion and Class in Turkey. Sabrina Tavernise. NY Times. 2/19/2008.

The American Community Survey and Intercensal Population Estimates

The EPI DataZone

The Effect of Race and Sex on Welfare Benefits

The Great Shopping Spree, R.I.P.. Robert J. Samuelson. Newsweek. 4/28/2008.

The Incredible Shrinking Paycheck. Nancy Cleeland. The Nation. 2/20/2008.

The New Suburban Poverty. 4/05/07 Press, The Nation.

The US National Income Statistics

Top 100 Executives by Salary Washington Post, 7/10/06

Top 100 Executives by Salary 2006

Top 100 Executives by Total CompensationWashington Post, 7/10/06

Top 100 Executives by Total Compensation 2006

Up to 70% interest - credit card aimed at the poor. Patrick Collinson. Guardian UK. 2/12/2008.

Utah Mine Disaster Was Preventable, Report Says. Ian Urbina. NY Times. 5/09/2008. Reports: Complaint (31pgs); Referral to Committee (4pgs); Final Report (164pgs)

Wall Street Winners Get Billion-Dollar Paydays. Jenny Anderson. NY Times. 4/16/2008.

Welfare Reform and the General Welfare

What Created This Monster?. Nelson Schwartz & Julie Creswell. NT Times. 3/23/08. The role of deregulation of the financial industry and the use of derivatives to "spread risk."

Women Behind Bars Project. Women in the criminal justice system.